Randy Elrod Inspired Blogs

OK, I know I've been silent lately. It's a combination of being extremely busy moving Jennifer and Austin in. Anyway, moving Jennifer and Austin went off fairly smoothly. My brother Palmer, Thomas' parents Tom and Mary, and Thomas' cousin Neal helped us take all the furniture and boxes down two stories of stairs. We ran out of room in the truck and rented a U-Haul trailer on the back of our Penske truck. We drove to Waynesville, NC, the next day. My good friend, Ralph Warfel, on vacation from Bradenton, helped my brother-in-law, John and I move half the stuff into storage. We drove as far as Lake City the next day and made it to Bradenton last Friday. Jeremy, Chris, and Duke helped us move all the rest of the stuff upstairs that evening. We've been moving stuff around and unpacking ever since. Tomorrow, I begin renovating one more bathroom and the kitchen for the upcoming sale of our condo.

Here are some recent pictures of Austin and Gavin in the punkin patch.

Before my son-in-law, Thomas, died, he and Jennifer had contracted a photographer to take pictures of Austin after he was born. When Jennifer called her to cancel under the circumstances, the photographer wouldn't hear of it and wanted to do the shoot anyway. She came while I was in Maryland last week and you'll see her pictures are world-class. Laura LaRosa is a class act and I highly recommend her if you're in the Washington D.C. area. Check out our slide show: Laura LaRosa Photography Enter Kelly for the password. It is case sensitive.

Tony H told me yesterday that the Youth Ministry at PSBBC is now all Mac! We've been bantering about PC's vs. Macs for years. What he actually said was that he had "joined the dark side." Hah! He finally got smart.

People still tell me all the time that they would like to own a Mac but that they are "more expensive" than a PC. That's an old wives tale. Check this out:

I first became acquainted with the whole "Life Is Good" brand at Mast General Store in Waynesville, NC. There are so many ways to apply that phrase to so many areas of life! This summer, every time Peggy and I came upon a store that sold that stuff, we specifically looked for a t-shirt with a guitar player. We finally found one in Hats In the Belfry in Annapolis, as well as a Tilley Hat. After a particularly rough day and sleepless night yesterday, I assigned myself the task of coming up with a list of things to prove that "Life is Good." Here is what I came up with:

8 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT LIFE

1. Put first things first, like…FAMILY. My wife, children and grandchildren are the major reason that I know that "Life Is Good."

2. Get out of the rut. Do something out of your comfort zone! Boy, am I doing that! I am WAY out of the zone today!

3. Laugh...sometimes at yourself! One of the books I "rescued" out of the donation box when we were cleaning the other day is a Calvin and Hobbes comic book. It literally relieved the stress and helped me finally drift off to sleep last night.